Full Moon
by alikenabel
Summary: It's hard to believe it all started with a shot to the leg. Even if it didn't. AU, davejade
1. one: bleeding out

The darkness fell thickly through the forest as the sound of snapping twigs and rustling leaves stretched between the trees. A lone figure stalked through the underbrush, hand loosely wrapped around the firearm at his hip. Another, heavier gun hung around his torso, the weight from the strap bearing down on his shoulder. The moonlight fell in thin streams through the treetops, illuminating the forest floor and glinting off of the sunglasses perched on his nose.

The creatures in the woods-they'd always been called non-humans. Never anything else. Most kept to themselves, stayed hidden from mortals, except for one race; the shapeshifters.

The hunters and the shifters had been enemies for centuries, tensions high and hostile attitudes constant. Many times had deaths occurred.

The shifters had long since died out, leaving a few scattered around the world, living as humans, and one last pack, living in those very woods. Long since had the shifters and hunters made peace, although they were anything but friendly towards one another.

And so, they never bothered each other.

Dave Strider was never one to volunteer to go on patrol, but it had been extremely hectic at Headquarters. His first time alone in the vast woods, because of a headache.

Patrol was quite possibly the most boring job to be done. Almost always was it done in pairs, and he was often sent with the most annoying person he'd ever met; a loud and rather mentally ill girl by the name of Terezi. Who also just happened to be blind and took every opportunity possible to remind him of it.

The night was eerily quiet. Although it was a good thing, it sent a shiver down the blond's spine. Normally he wasn't one to be paranoid, but since he stepped out the glass doors of Headquarters, he'd felt...

Watched.

Cussing lowly to himself, he took a second to stop, clicking on the flashlight clipped to the belt loop of his jeans and spinning around illuminating the clearing he'd paused in. Shrugging it off, he turned off the flashlight, continuing down the path that wound throughout the woods. The feeling persisted, and Dave told himself, over and over in his head that he was over thinking things, that he was being silly and unjustly paranoid and _totally uncool-_

The snap of a twig. Certainly not from underfoot. From behind him.

_What the hell...?_

He glanced behind him, eyes wide. Tilting his shades down so he could see properly, his gaze swept across the trees, scanning the darkness for any hint of life.

There was suddenly a rustle to his left, and everything beyond that was a blur. Dave pulled out the gun he'd forgotten he'd been tightly holding onto, fired, gasped when a throaty scream erupted from whatever he'd wounded.

His ears rang from the explosion of noise, but he rushed over to where the rather human-like sound had come from, crouching down to find blood coating the front of their right leg, dripping down the exposed skin.

It was a girl, perhaps his age, with long, dark hair (it was difficult to tell with such little light, but he was certain it was dark). He couldn't distinguish much else besides that. Hurriedly removing his red jacket, he pressed it up against her leg, wondering what on Earth a girl'd been doing out in the woods-

And then it hit him.

_Is she a shifter?_ he wondered, eyes scanning over her writhing form, taking in the basic details he could make out with such little illumination. His eyes wandered over her figure until they settled on the top of her head.

Two furry triangular objects, sticking out from the top of her head.

The girl gave a whimper, jolting Dave from his thoughts. _Oh shit oh shit God no I've screwed up this time I've really screwed up oh God no_.

Panic began to settle in his mind as the girl gave a sharp cry as he pressed the cloth to her wound. Forcing himself to settle down, Dave found himself wondering why she hadn't fully shifted.

Glancing around, he leaned down to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Girl!" he whispered harshly. "Where do you... live, or whatever?"

As a gust of wind blew by, the leaves above shifted, letting through enough light for Dave to notice that she had the deepest green eyes he'd ever seen. He mentally cursed himself that tears shone in them, cascading down her cheeks in seemingly endless streams. She shifted her jade gaze towards his own, lips parted to form her reply.

"I-I don't really... h-have one."

He sat there in shock. Didn't she belong to a pack? Did they abandon her?

Shaking his head, he slipped one arm under her legs, mindful of her injury, another around her shoulders and lifted her up, struggling under her weight. Taking a look around, worrying the others would burst into view any second, Dave took off in a random direction, hoping to find somewhere to take her.

Stumbling the first few steps, he managed to find his balance as he took off through the woods. If memory served correctly, there should've been a cave nearby...

It didn't take long for Dave's arms to begin aching, but he continued on, driven by the whimpers of pain ripped from the girl's throat every time he jostled her a bit too much. She seemed to be losing consciousness, something he found himself becoming hyper-aware of as he tore through the woods, hoping to find his destinations as quickly as possible.

He hoped with all his being she wasn't with the pack; if the Alpha didn't kill him, his brother would for being so careless.

By sheer luck, or some cosmic coincidence, the wind separated the leaves above, sending down tendrils of moonlight.

Straight ahead, barely visible through the trees, was a cave opening.

Being extra careful in the last stretch, he found himself at the entrance a lot faster than anticipated. Dave walked into the cave slowly, one step at a time, ears listening closely for any sounds aside from his heavy panting. Deeming it safe enough, he continued on into the cave, laying the girl down on the cave floor. Fumbling at his hip, he grabbed the flashlight and flicked it on, allowing the light to sweep around the cavern, to the ceiling high above. It was narrow, no more than ten feet across, but it stretched back perhaps fifty feet.

The light settled finally on the girl herself.

Long, matted black hair was the first thing he noticed. Her skin, Dave noticed second, was perhaps at once a golden color, but appeared rather pale, her face gaunt. He wondered how much she'd gotten to eat, deducing finally that she'd either been separated or was not with others like her. There was no way they'd allow her to starve in such a way, to become so thin and frail-looking.

But perhaps she only seemed that way.

Casting aside the thought of the dog ears protruding from her head, he leaned down, quickly pulling his jacket off and bunching her up, lifting her injured leg and letting it rest underneath.

Inhaling sharply through his teeth, Dave wondered exactly what he'd do. He certainly couldn't leave her to die, but on the other hand he couldn't say he knew _how _to treat such a wound.

There was one option he could think of. Perhaps it was a spur-of-the-moment, not-quite-thinking-straight decision. Or perhaps it was the greatest idea he'd had in his short life of seventeen years.

The plan formulating in his head consisted of sprinting back to his house, hoping his brother wasn't home, grabbing a first aid kit and a medical book, and sprinting back to the girl.

He felt iffy leaving her alone, but he doubted she would go anywhere; his main concern was her dying from blood loss while he was gone.

But if he stayed, she'd die of blood loss anyway.

Casting a final glance at the sleeping shifter, he tore his gaze away and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

**homestuck - hussie**

**im a mega fan of AUs whoops**


	2. two: fixing

Never had Dave found himself so nervous.

The house loomed before him as he crouched, hidden just behind the treeline of his backyard. The car wasn't there, but he still certainly wouldn't let his guard down.

As silently as he could, Dave ran forward, head ducked down to hopefully make himself less visible. The house loomed ahead, tall and somewhat intimidating in the pale moonlight. It was three-story, pointless considering the only two people to live in it were himself and his brother. It certainly didn't help that neither were ever home, spending their time either working with other Hunters or traveling.

Cautiously approaching the back door, he peered in the small window, finding no one there. Looking around, Dave stepped down off the porch, reaching down and digging his fingers into the cold dirt, grasping around the gradually loosening earth for the key he knew was there, right at the left corner of the last step. His fingers soon brushed against the cool metal, wrapping his hand around it and pulling it up. He bounded up the three steps in one leap, going to up to the door and unlocking it, turning the knob all the way before bracing his foot against the door and opening it slowly.

Silence greeted him as he stepped inside, and Dave slipped his shoes off as quietly as possible, knowing that his shoes would not only make noise but track dirt, and one thing he didn't need was his brother going all eagle-eye on him again and spotting every single thing out of place.

Sliding across the floor in his socks, Dave rounded the corner to the hallway, glancing to both ends before advancing across the hardwood floors to the bathroom. The two on the first floor were rarely used, so if something were to go missing from one of those it would be nearly unnoticeable.

The bathroom door was open, and he slipped through easily, flipping the light switch and crossing the rather large room to the cabinets lining the wall on the opposite side of the room. Groaning under his breath, he opened a one of the cabinet doors to find it empty. He knew there was something he could use in this room; granted, he didn't know where. Flinging a few more open (being entirely sure to close them silently), he finally found one with a sufficient amount of bandages and other medical supplies inside. Gauze, hydrogen peroxide, a few tubes of some type of disinfectant cream, a small plastic box and a single book stacked to the side.

He grabbed them all, unsure of what he'd need. Cramming them into his already full backpack, he turned, turning the light off and taking one step out onto the light hardwood when an awful sound rung out.

"Hey, lil' bro! You in here?"

Letting out a breath through his clenched teeth, Dave took a wild sprint to the door, grabbing his shoes and getting out as quickly and quietly he could, locking the door behind him. Turning, he sprinted barefoot towards the tree line, hoping to death his brother hadn't seen him.

The run this time seemed much shorter. The cave he'd laid her in fell into his sight quickly, and he sprinted inside, shrugging his backpack off. She was still there, sweat dripping down her paling face. Pulling out the book first, he clicked on his flashlight and began flipping through it, 'bullet wound' catching his eye almost immediately by pure luck. Scanning over the page he found that it was indeed for treating bullet wounds.

"Elevate..." He glanced to her calf, where his jacket lay bunched up underneath.

Pulling the box of gauze and the peroxide from his bag, he glanced down again at the book. He'd have to check to see if the bullet was still in her leg. He took a spring-loaded knife from his pocket, clicking it open and carefully tearing it through her pants at the knee, cutting the fabric around her wound to see how bad the damage was.

Situating the flashlight in the crook of his neck to free up his other hand, he pulled back the stained fabric, inspecting the damage. It was difficult to tell with the amount of bleeding-the possibility of a damaged artery caused panic to once again rise to his mind-and he grabbed the closest thing to him. Taking a quick glance down, he found it was gauze, and he hurriedly pulled a few sheets from the package, dabbing away at the redness as gently as he could.

A sharp cry jolted him from his work and his head snapped up, flashlight clattering to the ground-thankfully not landing on her leg-and he remembered with a start that she was likely still conscious.

Muttering a quick apology, hoping she'd hear, he picked up the flashlight once again, trying once again to find a bullet lodged in her leg.

As he dabbed away more blood, he found that the wound wasn't deep. It was prominent enough to cause the amount of bleeding it had, but it didn't seem to have actually gone into her leg. Something he'd have to thank whatever 'higher being' for later on.

Reaching over and pulling out a cloth from his backpack, Dave took the alcohol in his other hand, unscrewing the top and letting it clatter to the ground. He soaked the fabric, hoping it wasn't too much or too little, and let it hover over her leg before hesitating.

"Uh, girl?" he called out, earning a small groan from her. "This is gonna burn. Really bad. Just wanted to make sure you knew."

As a last thought, he reached down and grabbed the strap of his backpack, pulling it up and over her, laying it down beside her head. Folding the strap over, he pulled her jaw down, inserting it between her teeth.

"Just bite down on that, okay?"

There was a vague nod on her part. Dave reached down, cloth in hand, and swiped gently across the wound. Immediately she responded with a jerk of her leg and a sound resembling the muffled whine of a dog emanating from her throat. Suddenly much more nervous, he shakily reached down, dabbing the gash and the area around it in hopes of getting it over with more quickly. She trashed beneath him, her cries becoming more prominent and he found he had to forcefully push her leg down, holding it against the bundled up jacket as tightly as possible as he tried to clean the blood away as gently as possible.

After a moment he was satisfied, grabbing the ointment and squeezing some out of the nearly empty tube, spreading it lightly. He then grabbed the gauze and placed a few layers over the bleeding gash. Fumbling with the bandages, he unrolled the entire thing, referencing the book as he wrapped her leg.

As he finished, the girl before him let out a long breath, spitting the strap of his bag from her mouth. Gasping, she let her head fall to the side.

Picking up the box he'd grabbed, he shook it to find his suspicious had been confirmed; it was medicine of some sort. Popping it open, he found that they were labeled nicely and wrapped in plastic. The biggest one was labeled 'antibiotic'. Dave closed the box, knowing that if she needed it, the medication would be there.

Leaning back, he realized that she hadn't moved in the minute he'd been gathering his thoughts, he crawled forward, poking at her cheek.

"Girl, you awake?"

She groaned in response.

Dave sighed.

There was no way he could just leave her for the night. He had worries, although he knew the logical thing would be to high-tail it out of there after helping her.

An argument raged in his head before the worrisome part of him won, as he sunk bank into his former position, leaning his back against the jutting stone wall and drawing his knees up.

_Just until she wakes up_, he thought.

Or so he told himself.

* * *

**homestuck-hussie**

**wow i actually got it done**


End file.
